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Heart failure and cardiomyopathies
Original research
Incidence, risk factors, natural history and outcomes of heart failure in patients with Graves’ disease
  1. Jwan A Naser1,
  2. Sorin Pislaru2,
  3. Marius N Stan3,
  4. Grace Lin2
  1. 1 Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
  2. 2 Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
  3. 3 Department of Endocrinology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Grace Lin, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA; lin.grace{at}mayo.edu

Abstract

Objective Graves’ disease (GD) can both aggravate pre-existing cardiac disease and cause de novo heart failure (HF), but large-scale studies are lacking. We aimed to investigate the incidence, risk factors and outcomes of incident GD-related HF.

Methods Patients with GD (2009–2019) were retrospectively included. HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) was defined by left ventricular ejection fraction <50% and Framingham criteria, while HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) was defined according to the HFA-PEFF criteria. HF due to ischaemia, valve disorder or other structural heart disease was excluded. Proportional hazards regression was used to analyse risk factors and outcomes.

Results Of 1371 patients with GD, HF occurred in 74 (5.4%) patients (31 (2.3%) HFrEF; 43 (3.1%) HFpEF). In HFrEF, atrial fibrillation (AF) (HR 10.5 (3.0–37.3), p<0.001) and thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAb) level (HR 1.05 (1.01–1.09) per unit, p=0.007) were independent risk factors. In HFpEF, the independent risk factors were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR 7.2 (3.5–14.6), p<0.001), older age (HR 1.5 (1.2–2.0) per 10 years, p=0.001), overt hyperthyroidism (HR 6.4 (1.5–27.1), p=0.01), higher body mass index (BMI) (HR 1.07 (1.03–1.10) per unit, p=0.001) and hypertension (HR 3.1 (1.3–7.2), p=0.008). The risk of cardiovascular hospitalisations was higher in both HFrEF (HR 10.3 (5.5–19.4), p<0.001) and HFpEF (HR 6.7 (3.7–12.2), p<0.001). However, only HFrEF was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR 5.17 (1.3–19.9), p=0.02) and ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (HR 64.3 (15.9–259.7), p<0.001).

Conclusion De novo HF occurs in 5.4% of patients with GD and is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular hospitalisations and mortality. Risk factors include AF, higher TRAb, higher BMI and overt hyperthyroidism.

  • heart failure
  • diastolic
  • systolic
  • cardiomyopathies

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request.

https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2021-319752

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JAN: conception and design, data collection, statistical analysis, drafting the manuscript and final approval. SP, MNS, GL: conception and design, revising the manuscript and final approval.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.